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Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Opalia crassilabrum

(Sowerby, 1844)

Description:

Dimensions range from 6 mm - 13 mm high and 2.4 mm - 4 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.4:1 ~ 0.31:1

Shell: relatively broad, elongate, acuminate; minute to small. Exterior colour grey, dirty white or yellowish white. About 8 whorls; minutely spirally striated; protoconch usually eroded; teleoconch with 6-8 whorls. Spire posteriorly concave, with rounded median angle. Suture deep, bordered by flattened crenules, about 14 per whorl, which are separated by shallow pits. Imperforate. Approximately 12 - 14 costae on the body whorl. Costae are axial, low, rounded. There is a single varix on each whorl. The varix is rarely present. Intritacalx present. Intercostal spaces intritacalax with spiral rows of microscopic, rounded pits. Base concave, without ribs. Aperture elliptical, lip thick; peristome double.


Distribution:

Central Pacific America, Philippines to Fiji, New Caledonia, the Red Sea and Natal, South Africa. Verco [1906:146] and Cotton & Godffrey [1931:8] both cite a record from St Vincent Gulf South Australia.


Habitat:

3-155m


Etymology:

[latin] crassus = thick, heavy and labrum = lip, edge in reference to the species thickened outer lip


Type Material:

Philippine Islands (Kilburn, 1985: 269). for Opalia crassilabrum (Sowerby, 1844). [Garcia, E.F., 2004]
Ticao, Cagayan, Mindoro Islands, Philippines for Opalia crassilabrum (Sowerby, 1844). [Nakayama, T., 2003]
not located. for Opalia crassilabrum (Sowerby, 1844) - Locality: Ticao, Cagayan, Mindoro, Philippines.. [Brown, L. & Neville, B.D., 2015]


SpeciesImage

Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844). Plate xxxv. Fig. 115-116.

87- SC. CRASSILABRUM. (pi. XXXV. f. 115, 116.) SoW .
Jun.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844).
Species Image
Plate xxxv. Fig. 115-116.
87- SC. CRASSILABRUM. (pi. XXXV. f. 115, 116.) SoW .
Jun.
Species Image
pp: 105.
Original description
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1873-1874).
Species Image
Plate xiv. Fig. 120a.
Species Image
Plate xiv. Fig. 120b.
Species Image
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Shown in text as Scalaria crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844
Species Image
Plate 17. Fig. 32.
Species Image
pp: 82.
Verco, J.C. (1906).
Shown in text as Scala crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844
Species Image
pp: 146.
Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K. (1931).
Shown in text as Cirsotrema crassilabrum (G. B. Sowerby II, 1844) ·
Species Image
pp: 8.
Nakayama, T. (2003).
Species Image
pp: 105. Plate 1. Fig. 29.
Opalia (Nodiscala) crassilip (Sowerby, 1844)
height 6.0 mm; breadth 2.4 mm (WC
Garcia, E.F. (2004).
Species Image
pp: 9. Fig. 27-28.
Ventral view of Sowerby's Type figure (Fig. No. 115).
Species Image
pp: 9. Fig. 27-28.
New Caledonia. 19°8'S, 163°23'E, 155 m [MUSORSTOM 4, sta. DW149], length 6.7 mm. 2

Synonymy:

Cirsotrema crassilabrum (G. B. Sowerby II, 1844) · [in Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K., 1931].
Cirsotrema kagayai T. Habe & Ki. Ito, 1965 [in Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y., 1999].
Scala crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844 [in Verco, J.C., 1906].
Scalaria crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844 [in Clessin, S., 1897].
Scalaria crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844 [in DuShane, H., 1974].
Scalaria crassilabrum G. B. Sowerby II, 1844 [in Tryon, G.W., 1887].


Source Literature:

Brown, L. & Neville, B.D. (2015). Catalog of the recent taxa of the families Epitoniidae and Nystiellidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) with a bibliography of the descriptive and systematic literature. Zootaxa. 3907(1). Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3907.1.1 [Accessed 22 October 2023]
Clessin, S. (1897). Die Familie der Scalariidae. In W. Kobelt (Ed.), Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet von Martini und Chemnitz. Neu herausgegeben und vervollständigt. 2(13). Bauer & Raspe, NürnbergBauer & Raspe, Nürnberg. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34259905 [Accessed 21 June 2025]
Cotton, B.C. & Godfrey, F.K. (1931). South Australian Shells Part II. The South Australian Naturalist. 13(1). Field Naturalists Society of South Australia. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42129287 [Accessed 8 June 2025]
DuShane, H. (1974). The Panamic-Galapagan Epitoniidae. The Veliger. 16 (Sup. 14). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42500298 [Accessed 25 September 2023]
Garcia, E.F. (2004). New records of Opalia-like molluscs from the Indo-Pacific, with descriptions of fourteen new species. Novapex. 5(1). http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42323212 [Accessed 12 September 2023]
Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y. (1999). Catalogue and Bibliography of the Marine Shell-Bearing Mollusca of Japan.. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266375656_Catalogue_and_Bibliography_of_the_Marine_Shell-Bearing_Mollusca_of_Japan [Accessed 25 July 2025]
Kilburn, R.N (1985). The family Epitoniidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in southern Africa and Mozambique. Annals of the Natal Museum. 27(1). Natal Museum
Nakayama, T. (2003). A Review of Northwest Pacific Epitoniids. Monographs of Marine Mollusca. 6. Backhuys Publishers
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1844). Monograph of the genus Scalaria.. Thesaurus conchyliorum, or monographs of genera of shells.. 1 (4). London, privately published.. http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11076419 [Accessed 22 June 2023]
Sowerby, G. B. II. (1873-1874). Monograph of the genus Scalaria. Conchologia iconica, or illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 19, pls 1-16 and unpaginated text.. 19. London. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8217819 [Accessed 24 August 2023]
Tryon, G.W. (1887). Manual of conchology, structural and systematic with illustrations of the species. IX. Academy of Natural Sciences. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11026889 [Accessed 20 September 2025]
Verco, J.C. (1906). Notes on South Australian marine Mollusca, with descriptions of new species. Part IV.. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia. 30 Pt 4. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16124267 [Accessed 19 June 2023]
Weil, A., Brown, L. & Neville, B. (1999). The Wentletrap Book. Evolver
WoRMS Editorial Board (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record